At the Center of a Schism

The Right Rev. Martyn Minns, bishop for the Virginia churches allied with Akinola (and who has known him for decades), thinks the outcry around such issues smacks of armchair condescension by First Worlders ignorant of Nigerian realities. "It's vital that we begin by trying to understand [his] setting," Minns says, "before we apply it to our particular concerns." There can be no doubt that congregants in his newly formed Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) are happy with Akinola. "I've never seen a guy as full of the Holy Spirit as he is," says Ward LeHardy, communications director at St. Stephen's Church in Heathsville, Va. "He's absolutely on fire in love with the Lord and the Bible." Yet when Akinola cheerfully outlines his hopes for CANA--"Hopefully, in another year, we will have two or three, maybe five or 10 more" U.S. bishops, he tells TIME--it is hard not to conclude that he sees American Episcopalians as missionary targets who need to be taught the true Word in much the same way as the Muslims at home.

Will Akinola seek Anglicanism's rupture in Dar es Salaam? The odds are that he will have to put up with one more attempt to avoid it. On the agenda is a progress report by something called the Covenant Design Group, whose philosophical makeup runs to the conservative but does not go quite as far as the impatient Nigerian. The covenant in question would be an attempt to define the core beliefs of Anglicanism a bit more closely. Closely enough, in fact, that--some years down the line--it could well exclude the more liberal U.S. Episcopal position. But its immediate goal would be to find some fate for the church short of outright schism. For Akinola--and, for that matter, those on the liberal side who feel that acceptance of gay equality is as important as he deems its rejection--that goal may be beside the point. But it may turn out to be the closest the communion can come to sustaining a tattered dream of Anglican unity.

The original version of this story contained a quote from a man identified as Warren LeHardy, the communications director at St. Stephen's Church in Heathsville, Va. His correct name is Ward LeHardy.